﻿<p>A pile is a slender timber, concrete, or steel structural element, driven, jetted, or otherwise embedded on end in the ground for the purpose of supporting a load. A pile is also characterized as deep foundation, where the loads are transfered to deeper subsurface layers.</p>
<blockquote class="extDef">NOTE&nbsp; Definition according to
ISO 6707-1: slender structural member, substantially underground, intended to transmit force(s) into
loadbearing strata below the surface of the ground.</blockquote>
<blockquote class="note">
NOTE&nbsp; Shallow foundations, which transfer the loads to the ground near its surface, are represented by <em>IfcFooting</em>.
</blockquote>
 
<blockquote class="history">HISTORY&nbsp; New entity in IFC2x2.</blockquote>
